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About the author, writing tips

By: Becky Kover

The Columbus Dispatch - September 11, 2012 04:50 PM

Margaret Peterson Haddix is the author of more than 25 books for kids and teens, including the “
Missing” series and the “Shadow Children” series. Her books have been honored with New York Times
best-seller status; the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award; American Library
Association Best Book and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers notations; and numerous
state readers choice awards, including the Buckeye Book Award.

She has two new books this fall:
Caught, the fifth book in the “Missing” series, which came out in early September; and
Game Changer, which is due out Oct. 16.

Haddix lives with her family in Columbus. You can find out more about her work at
www.haddixbooks.com.

To help young writers get started, Haddix offers some suggestions for how to plan and write an
ending to the story she began:

* Think about several different possibilities for what should happen next. Do you want the
narrator to feel different? See something different? Suddenly know something out of the ordinary?
Do you want the older brother’s clothes to hold some superhero power or not? If and when the
narrator meets his friends, do you want them to notice anything different about him?

* Do you want the dog to continue to play a major role in the story?

* What other characters do you want to be important in the rest of the story? Will Keegan make
an appearance? Will Scott?

* What do you think it would be like trick-or-treating if you really did have some type of
superpower?

* I left out some details to give you room to use your imagination. What do you think the
narrator looks like? What costumes do you think his friends will be wearing? Are they really
friends, or are they all as mean as Keegan? If you decide these details are important, how will you
weave them into your story?

* Try to truly put yourself in the narrator’s place, and imagine everything that he (or,
possibly, she) sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels. Then pick out the important details to share
with the reader. Make your readers feel like they are also right there living this with the
narrator.

* When you finish your story, read it out loud. Then revise any sentences you stumble over.
(Always good advice for anything you write!)